Structures maintenance mapper

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provide herein for enabling a computing system to search and interact with service records containing natural language text to aid in the analysis of those records by: clustering terms in natural language service records of a corpus of natural language service records related to a complex system based on term definitions in a knowledgebase; associating, based on a definition for the complex system that includes a coordinate system that describes the complex system, the clustered terms with the coordinate system for the complex system; generating an issue map for a given natural language service record of the corpus, wherein the issue map identifies the clustered terms in the given natural language service record and associated locations for the clustered terms according to the coordinate system for the complex system; and associating the issue map to the given natural language service record of the corpus.

FIELD

Aspects of the present disclosure provide for improved computingefficiency in analyzing natural language text documents.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to natural language text documents, andmore specifically, to service records including natural language text.Service records include requests for service, resolutions to therequests for service, and intermediate communications related to theservice. For example, an end-user may send a request for service to atechnician, who may converse with the end-user to diagnose and addressthe root cause for the service request before providing a resolution tothe service request.

In some embodiments, these communications are handled in structuredforms, with various fields holding various data (e.g., a part numberfield holds values identifying parts by part numbers), which can beunwieldy for the end-users, can require specific applications to be usedto submit communications, can cause confusion and errors when data aremislabeled, and are only partly effective, as many forms include a“comments” field that includes natural language text. In otherembodiments, natural language text documents, such as email messages,are used for the service records without (or with minimal) formattingfor data fields. As will be appreciated, although freeform text is oftensimpler for human users to deal with than structured data, the freeformnature of natural language text poses difficulties for computing systemsin analyzing the data.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides, in one embodiment, a method forproviding a structures maintenance mapper, comprising: clustering termsin natural language service records of a corpus of natural languageservice records related to a complex system based on term definitions ina knowledgebase; associating, based on a definition for the complexsystem that includes a coordinate system that describes the complexsystem, the clustered terms with the coordinate system for the complexsystem; generating an issue map for a given natural language servicerecord of the corpus, wherein the issue map identifies the clusteredterms in the given natural language service record and associatedlocations for the clustered terms according to the coordinate system forthe complex system; and associating the issue map to the given naturallanguage service record of the corpus.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the given natural languageservice record is associated with one issue map, and in response toreceiving a subsequent message for the given natural language servicerecord, the one issue map is updated.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, a methodfor providing a structures maintenance mapper further comprises:receiving a query request from an operator device indicating criteria;querying the corpus based on the criteria; and transmitting issue mapsthat include the criteria as terms or locations to the operator device.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the terms include componentsof the complex system.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, clustering the terms furthercomprises expanding the terms to include implicit terms, and includingthe implicit terms in the issue map.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the implicit terms includeintermediate locations to a first location explicitly listed in thegiven natural language service record and a second location explicitlylisted in the given natural language service record.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the terms include locationslisted according to the coordinate system for the complex system.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the definition for thecomplex system includes multiple coordinate systems for the complexsystem, and wherein associating the clustered terms with the coordinatesystem for the complex system based on the definition for the complexsystem further comprises associating the clustered terms with themultiple coordinate systems.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the terms include clientidentifiers, date identifiers, and issue type identifiers.

The present disclosure provides in another embodiment, a method forproviding a structures maintenance mapper, comprising: displaying in auser interface an image of a complex system; receiving, from the userinterface, a high-level selection of criteria of the complex system;querying issue maps associated with individual natural language servicerecords of a corpus of natural language service records based on thehigh-level selection, wherein the natural language service records ofthe corpus are uniquely associated with one issue map, wherein the issuemaps specify at least one term related to the complex system and alocation on the complex system associated with the at least one term;and returning at least one issue map, wherein the at least one issue mapreturned specifies a term or location correlated to the criteria of thecomplex system indicated by the high-level selection.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, returning the at least oneissue map further comprises: overlaying a chart onto the image of thecomplex system, wherein the chart displays data in the at least oneissue map at locations correlated to the image of the complex system.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the at least one issue mapincludes locations correlated the complex system in a first coordinatesystem and in a second coordinate system correlated with the firstcoordinate system.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the method further comprises:displaying a second image of the complex system associated with thesecond coordinate system; overlaying a second chart onto the secondimage of the complex system, wherein the second chart displays the datain the at least one issue map at locations correlated to the secondimage of the complex system according to the second coordinate system;wherein the image of the complex system is associated with the firstcoordinate system; and wherein the chart is overlaid onto the image ofthe complex system according to the first coordinate system.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the method further comprises:receiving a filtering input specifying additional criteria; removing anyissue maps from the at least one issue map returned that do not includethe additional criteria; and in response to removing any issue maps fromthe at least one issue map returned that do not include the additionalcriteria, updating the chart based on the filtering input.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the filtering input specifiesone of: a client identifier for whom a service record was created; atime range in which the service record was created; and an issue typefor which the service record was created.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the high-level selectionspecifies a range of locations.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, whenproviding a structures maintenance mapper, the high-level selectionspecifies a component identifier.

In a further embodiment, the present disclosure provides a system for astructures maintenance mapper, comprising: a processor; and anon-transitory storage device, including instructions that when executedby the processor enable the system to: receive a definition for acomplex system, including a coordinate system for the complex system;cluster terms in natural language service records of a corpus of naturallanguage service records related to the complex system based on termdefinitions in a knowledgebase; associate the clustered terms with thecoordinate system for the complex system based on the definition for thecomplex system; associate an issue map to a given natural languageservice record of the corpus, wherein the issue map identifies theclustered terms in the given natural language service record andassociated locations for the clustered terms according to the coordinatesystem for the complex system; receive a new service request; parse thenew service request for requested terms; query the corpus based on therequested terms; and return at least one natural language service recordof the corpus having an issue map that specifies at least one locationof the complex system correlated to the at least one of the requestedterms.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, thesystem is further configured to: display in a user interface an image ofthe complex system; receive a selection of a portion of the complexsystem; determine the requested terms based on the selection; andwherein querying the corpus based on the requested terms is done inresponse to determining the requested terms.

In one aspect, in combination with any example above or below, agraphical user interface is used to return the at least one naturallanguage service record of the corpus as a chart of terms havingidentified locations in the issue map that overlays an image of thecomplex system at corresponding locations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the presentdisclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description ofthe disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toaspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example architecture of a structures maintenancesystem.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing general operations in an example methodfor structures maintenance mapping.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing general operations in an example methodfor structures maintenance mapping.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example graphical user interfaces forstructures maintenance mapping.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Manufacturers and service providers are dealing with increasingly largesets of service records and other data relating to the lifecycle ofcomplex systems (e.g., aircraft, ships, factories). Frequently, theseservice records include natural language text, which due to the size ofthe corpus of data records and the difficulty in generating an optimalsearch query for finding data relating to a specific issue with aspecific complex system or grouping of such systems, conventionalcomputer-based searching solutions are insufficient to address the needsof complex system manufacturers and service providers.

Finding and presenting related service records is increasinglyimportant, as solutions to a given issue may have been described inprior service records, or the service records may indicate a trend inissues affecting a given part of the complex system. Complicating theanalysis of the natural language text is the variation found in naturallanguage. For example, a first customer may describe an issue as a“gouge” at a given component, and a second customer may describe theidentical issue as “score” or “scratch” at a given location where thecomponent resides. Although queries of the service records may be madeusing synonyms, each query must individually account for variations inhow the underlying systems are described, as conventional technicalsolutions do not allow for aggregate analysis and require repeatedqueries to repeatedly expend computing resources to account fordifferences in terminology.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for enabling acomputing system to search and interact with service records containingnatural language text to aid in the analysis of those records. Theprocessing efficiency of the computing device is improved, and fewercomputing resources are expended in the analysis of the service recordswhen the present disclosure is applied. By parsing the natural languagetext in service records for terms, and normalizing those terms accordingto a knowledgebase, a computing device can correlate those terms to acoordinate space for a complex system for which service is sought. Thesenormalized terms and correlated locations are stored with the servicerecords as an issue map so that subsequent queries, for individualrecords or aggregate records, can quickly and efficiently return resultsfor analysis.

Although several examples are given in the present disclosure of acomplex system being a particular complex systems, such as an aircraft,one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other complexsystems (e.g., automobiles, ships, factories, rockets, buildings,bridges) are also considered for the purposes of the present disclosure.Similarly, although several examples are given in the present disclosureof the natural language text being supplied in email messages, it willbe appreciated that documents having sections of natural language textinclude, but are not limited to: text messages, in-application messages,voice transcriptions, word processing documents, and the like.

Turning now to FIG. 1, an example architecture of a structuresmaintenance system 100 is provided. The structures maintenance system100 is a computing device, which includes a processor 110 and a memory120. The processor 110 retrieves and executes programming instructionsstored in the memory 120 as well as stores and retrieves applicationdata residing in the memory 120. A bus is used to transmit programminginstructions and application data between processor 110, memory 120, I/Odevices, and a network interface (not shown) to communicate with clientdevices and operator devices. Client devices are computing devices usedby third-parties who operate or maintain the entities for which servicerequests are generated, and the operator devices are computing devicesused by parties who respond to the service requests (which may be thesame parties who maintain the structured maintenance system 100).

The processor 110 generally represents any piece of computer hardwarethat is capable of processing information such as, for example, data,computer programs and/or other suitable electronic information. Theprocessor 110 is composed of a collection of electronic circuits some ofwhich may be packaged as an integrated circuit or multipleinterconnected integrated circuits (an integrated circuit at times morecommonly referred to as a “chip”). The processor 110 is configured toexecute computer programs, which may be stored onboard the processor orotherwise stored in the memory 120 (of the same or another apparatus).The processor 110 may represent a number of processors, amulti-processor core or some other type of processor, depending on theparticular implementation. Further, the processor 110 may be implementedusing a number of heterogeneous processor systems in which a mainprocessor is present with one or more secondary processors on a singlechip. As another illustrative example, the processor 110 may be asymmetric multi-processor system containing multiple processors of thesame type. In yet another example, the processor 110 may be embodied asor otherwise include one or more application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or the like.Thus, although the processor 110 may be capable of executing a computerprogram to perform one or more functions, the processor of variousexamples may be capable of performing one or more functions without theaid of a computer program

The memory 120 generally represents any piece of computer hardware thatis capable of storing information such as, for example, data, computerprograms (e.g., computer-readable program code) and/or other suitableinformation either on a temporary basis and/or a permanent basis. Thememory 120 may include volatile and/or non-volatile memory, and may befixed or removable. Examples of suitable memory include random accessmemory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard drive, a flash memory, athumb drive, a removable computer diskette, an optical disk, a magnetictape or some combination of the above. Optical disks may include compactdisk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W),digital versatile disk (DVD), or the like. Although shown as a singleunit, memory 120 may be a combination of fixed and/or removable storagedevices, such as fixed disc drives, removable memory cards, or opticalstorage, network attached storage (NAS), or a storage area-network(SAN). Additionally, although shown as a component of the structuredmaintenance system 100, the memory may also include computer hardwaredisposed of remotely from the structured maintenance system, such as,for example, external hard drives, networked storage, distributedsystems and databases, cloud storage, and the like.

In various instances, the memory 120 may be referred to as acomputer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage mediumis a non-transitory device capable of storing information, and isdistinguishable from computer-readable transmission media, such aselectronic transitory signals capable of carrying information from onelocation to another. Computer-readable medium as described herein maygenerally refer to a computer-readable storage medium orcomputer-readable transmission medium.

In addition to the memory 120, the processor 110 may also be connectedto one or more interfaces for displaying, transmitting and/or receivinginformation. The interfaces may include a communications interface(e.g., communications unit) and/or one or more user interfaces oneexample of which may be a network interface. The network interface maybe configured to transmit and/or receive information, such as to and/orfrom another apparatus(es), network(s) or the like. The networkinterface may be configured to transmit and/or receive information byphysical (wired) and/or wireless communications links. Examples ofsuitable communication interfaces include a network interface controller(NIC), wireless NIC (WNIC) or the like.

The user interfaces may include a display and/or one or more user inputinterfaces (e.g., input/output unit). The display may be configured topresent or otherwise display information to a user, suitable examples ofwhich include a liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diodedisplay (LED), plasma display panel (PDP) or the like. The user inputinterfaces may be wired or wireless, and may be configured to receiveinformation from a user into the apparatus, such as for processing,storage and/or display. Suitable examples of user input interfacesinclude a microphone, image or video capture device, keyboard or keypad,joystick, touch-sensitive surface (separate from or integrated into atouchscreen), biometric sensor or the like. The user interfaces mayfurther include one or more interfaces for communicating withperipherals such as printers, scanners or the like. In some embodiments,the user interfaces are omitted and/or the visual and audio output fromthe structured maintenance system 100 is communicated to the clientdevices and/or the operator devices for consumption.

The memory 120 contains a knowledgebase 130, a corpus 140 made of aplurality of service records 150 and the associated issue maps 160,information extraction engine 170, an analysis interface 180, and anoperating system 190. Generally, the operating system 190 representssoftware that is configured to manage computing hardware and softwareresources on the structured maintenance system 100. The operating system190 may further provide computing services for software applicationsexecuting on the structured maintenance system 100.

A knowledgebase 130 identifies the terms and associations between terms,locations associated with terms, and terms associated with locationsthat may be found in the service records. The terms include, but are notlimited to: component names, part numbers, client identifiers, operatoridentifiers, complex system identifiers, issue identifiers, and locationidentifiers. The associations include known synonyms, acronyms,locations for components, components at locations, locations accordingto a first coordinate system based on a second coordinate system,alternative names, negators (e.g., “not”, “no”, “none”), implicitdefinitions (e.g., pronouns, “through”, “from X to Y”). Theknowledgebase 130 may be curated by operators who are subject matterexperts (SME) to add or remove terms and associations, or by a machinelearning process that is evaluated by SMEs to automatically add orremove terms and associations. The information extraction engine 170uses the knowledgebase 130 to identify terms in the service records 150to build the issue map 160 for those service records 150.

An individual service record 150 includes an initial service requestreceived from a client (e.g., via a client device) and the intermediarycommunications made in response to the service request (e.g., via clientdevices and operator devices). Each communication in the service recordincludes natural language text, but each communication may also includestructured data, metadata, and non-textual data. For example, an emailcommunication within the service record 150 may include the naturallanguage text from a client or operator regarding an issue that isformatted or marked as natural language text, such as, for example thecontents of the Subject and Body fields of an email may be called outvia structured data tags in HTML (e.g., <subject>X</subject> and<body>Y</body>). Additional formatting may also be included in thenatural language text, such as, for example, tags indicating a fontstyle or typeface to apply to the natural language text (e.g., “bold”,“italic”, “Arial”, “size 12”, “heading 1”). Additionally, documentsincluding natural language text may also include various metadata ornon-textual data, such as a time of transmission or an image attachment.

Several communications may be included in a service record 150, and aservice record 150 will grow as communications are sent between clientsand operators. These communications may be stored together in or linkedtogether across one or more corpuses 140, which are repositories ofservice records 150. In some embodiments, a corpus 140 may contain allor a subset of the service records 150. In one example, a first corpus140 contains service records 150 from year X to year Y, and a secondcorpus 140 contains service records 150 from year Y to year Z. In asecond example, a first corpus 140 contains service records 150 for afirst client, and a second corpus 140 contains service records 150 for asecond client. In a third example, a first corpus 140 contains servicerecords 150 for a first complex system (e.g., aircraft of model A,building A), and a second corpus 140 contains service records 150 for asecond complex system (e.g., aircraft of model B, building B). As willbe appreciated, a corpus 140 may be divided into sub-corpuses by variousterms or identifiers found in the service records 150, who thecommunications are received from or received by, when the communicationsare received, whether the service record 150 is designated asunacknowledged/in-progress/resolved, and combinations thereof.

The communications within a service record 150 are parsed by aninformation extraction engine 170 in combination with the knowledgebase130 to identify terms within the natural language text that are used foranalysis of the corpus 140 and thereby build an issue map 160 for eachgiven service record 150. Because the communications include naturallanguage text, the precise terminology used in a given communication mayvary from another communication, even within a single service record150. For example, a client may refer to a given component as “part X”,while the operator may refer to the same component as “part Y”, or theclient may refer to the same issue across communications as varioussynonyms (e.g., a gouge, scratch, scar). The information extractionengine 170, therefore, clusters various terms found in thecommunications into normalized terms found in the knowledgebase 130. Forexample, instances of gouge/scratch/scar may be clustered into anormalized term such as “surface damage”, or instances oflightning/hail/thunderstorm may be clustered into a normalized term suchas “storm damage”.

Clustering also expands terms into implicit components and implicitlocation terms that are referenced, but not directly named in thenatural language text. In one example, when a client specifies in thenatural language text “from beam 1 through beam 6”, the informationextraction engine 170 clusters beams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, as beams 2-5are implicitly referenced (i.e., are implicit location terms) based onthe natural language of “from beam 1 through beam 6”. In anotherexample, the information extraction engine 170 clusters pronouns, in oracross sentences, to refer to various terms that are explicitlyreferenced elsewhere, such as in the natural language text: “The surfacedamage is extensive. It runs from point A to point Z”, where ‘it’implicitly refers to the ‘surface damage’.

The information extraction engine 170 may also access a hierarchicalrelationship list for the complex system that identifies parentcomponents and child components within the complex system. As will beappreciated, the complex system may be treated as the “root” in thehierarchical relationship list from which all other components andassemblies thereof depend from. In one example, when a client specifiesin the natural language text: “the landing gear assembly”, theinformation extraction engine 170 clusters the sub-components of thelanding gear (e.g., wheel axles, shock struts, tires) with thereferenced ‘landing gear assembly’ as implicit components based on thehierarchical relationship list. In a second example, the informationextraction engine 170 clusters supra-components or assemblies identifiedin the hierarchical relationship list that include the explicitlyreferenced component, such as when a wheel axle, shock strut, or tire isreferenced, that term is clustered with a landing gear assembly to whichthe explicitly reference component belongs.

The clustering operations performed by the information extraction engine170 also use the sentence and paragraph structures of natural languagetext to determine which explicitly referenced terms to ignore. Forexample, if a communication were to state “component X has not beendamaged”, the information extraction engine 170 determines that thenegating terms “not” is used in reference to component X, and can ignorethat reference to component X, potentially excluding component X fromthe issue map 160.

Additionally, because structural elements of the complex system may bereferenced as part of the request for service as either componentsaffected by the issue or as reference points to other components, theinformation extraction engine 170 uses the sentence and paragraphstructure of natural language text to determine which explicit componentreferences should be treated as locational references. For example, aclient may reference “surface damage running from window 5 to window 9,one foot above the waterline” in which “window 5 to window 8” will betreated as location references that indicate where the surface damageruns longitudinally instead of references that windows 5-9 are affectedby the “surface damage.”

The issue map 160 is generated from the clustered terms identified in aservice record 150 as being relevant to the service request. As will beappreciated, an individual service record 150 progresses (e.g., asfurther communications are exchanged), that service record 150 isupdated with new information. For example, as a client and operator seekto find a resolution to an issue, several potential solutions or rootcauses may be proposed that are later found to be unrelated to theultimate solution or actual root cause. The information extractionengine 170 therefore analyzes the service record 150 in order ofearliest to most recent communications. The issue map 160 initiallygenerated includes terms found in the initial service request, and theimplicitly referenced terms, but as the analysis of the service record150 progresses, the information extraction engine 170 places greater orlesser weight on terms based on the position of the terms in the servicerecord 150. Various machine learning techniques may be employed by theinformation extraction engine 170 to determine whether to include a newterm or keep an existing term, that are monitored by SMEs for accuracy.

The issue maps 160 are associated with the service records 150 fromwhich the issue maps 160 are generated to provide the analysis interface180 with a searchable body of data. In various embodiments, the servicerecords 150 that are not yet resolved mark the associated issue maps 160as non-searchable until such time that the service record 150 is markedas resolved. The analysis interface 180 accepts queries for servicerecords 150 having certain characteristics (e.g., related to client X,referencing issue Y, and/or referencing component Z) and returnsaggregated metrics related to those service records 150 and/or links toaccess those service records 150. For example, a user interface(examples of which are discussed in greater detail in regards to FIGS.4A and 4B) may provide counts of various issues illustrated on an imageof the effected complex system.

In some embodiments, the issue maps 160 are stored in the corpus 140with the service records 150 that the issue maps 160 are associatedwith. In other embodiments, the issue maps 160 are stored separatelyfrom the service records 150, but are linked to the service records 150.By storing the issue maps 160 separately from the service records 150,computer security may be improved (e.g., via reduced access to theservice records 150) and memory storage space requirements may bereduced compared to storing the issue maps 160 and service records 150together. For example, service records 150 may be stored in archivaland/or encrypted storage devices, but the associated issue maps 160 maybe stored in actively assessable storage devices. It will beappreciated, however, that storing the issue maps 160 and servicerecords 150 together, may provide faster access to linked servicerecords 150 from the associated issue maps 160 than if the data were tobe stored separately.

The user may specify the various criteria by which the analysisinterface 180 is to search the issue maps 160 via selection in a userinterface, via text entry, or by submitting a service record 150 for useas a seed. For example, a user may make a high-level selection of alocation on an image of the complex system, a filtering selection of adate range, issue type, client identifier, etc. in the user interfacethat will be used by the analysis interface 180 to return servicerecords 150 (and metrics thereof) that have issue maps 160 associatedtherewith that include the selected criteria. In another example, a usermay input various criteria as text, which are normalized according tothe clusters defined in the knowledgebase 130 to search the issue maps160 for matches. In a further example, a user may submit a servicerecord 150 (resolved or unresolved) to search for service records 150containing the same or similar terms in the respective issue maps 160.

The issue maps 160 provide the structured maintenance system 100improvements in efficiency when searching a large corpus 140 of naturallanguage text. By searching the issue maps 160 instead of the individualservice records 150, multiple instances or repetitions of a term in aservice record 150 are not reflected as multiple hits of a query, thusimproving accuracy of the data, and using fewer processing resources.Additionally, by having the terms in the service records 150 normalizedand collected (and cross-associated) in the issue maps 160 independentof queries thereon, the speed at which query results are returned tousers in increased and the service records 150 can be left in anoriginal format. Moreover, by storing the issue maps 160 in associationwith or linked to the related service records 150, fewer computationsneed to be transacted, further reducing the processing resourcesconsumed.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing general operations in an example method200 for structured maintenance mapping. Method 200 begins at block 210,where a definition for a complex system is received. A complex system isan entity that is associated with at least one coordinate system forwhich service requests are made. In one example, several types ofaircraft may have complex system definitions for each type that isassociated with the stringers, waterlines, body buttock lines (alsoreferred to as butt-lines), and body stations in the aircraft of thattype. In another example, different classes of ships may have complexsystem definitions that use decks and bulkheads as a coordinate system.

At block 220 a corpus 140 of natural language service records 150 isaccessed. In various embodiments, the corpus 140 is selected (orfiltered from a lager corpus 140) based on the complex system definitionaccessed in block 210. In other embodiments, additional or differentcriteria are used to select the corpus 140, including a status of theservice records 150 (e.g., resolved versus unresolved), when the servicerecords 150 were received, who the service records 150 were receivedfrom/by, etc. The corpus 140 includes a plurality of service records 150that include natural language text related to an issue for which serviceis sought.

Proceeding to block 230, the information extraction engine 170, with useof a knowledgebase 130, parses the natural language text to identify andcluster terms found in the natural language service records 150. Theterms include the various names or identifiers for components of thecomplex system, locations in the complex system, issues identified forservice, clients, operators, and dates. These terms are clustered intonormalized forms, and expanded to include any implicit terminologyaccording to relationships set in the knowledgebase 130. Theknowledgebase 130 defines terminologies that are related to one another(e.g., synonyms, parent components, child components), knownmisspellings and typos for terminologies, and indicia of a termspecifying additional implicit terminology, such as “through”, “-”,“both”, ‘all”, etc. As will be understood, implicit terminology includeinternal terms related to a listed term, such as, for example,intermediated locations in a range of locations, sub-components of alisted component, super-components of a listed component, a parentcompany for a listed client, dates within a range, etc.

Additional to positive clustering, the information extraction engine 170performs negative and referential clustering to remove mentions of termsthat are not related to the issue for which service is requested. Forexample, the terms “not”, “no”, “none”, and similar terms may be used innatural language to indicate that an indicated term is unaffected by theissue for which service is requested, and should be ignored by theinformation extraction engine. Similarly, terms such as “near”, “under”,“above”, “next to”, and the like may be used in natural language toindicate locations relative to a referenced component, but are notnecessary intended to indicate that the referenced component is affectedby the issue for which service is requested, and are treated as alocation term by the information extraction engine 170. For example, aservice request may indicate that surface damage occurred under an entryhatch, which the information extraction engine 170 interprets todetermine a location were the surface damage occurred (i.e., “under” theentry hatch).

At block 240, the information extraction engine 170, with use of aknowledgebase 130 and a complex system definition, associates theclustered terms with the coordinate system for the complex system. Thisassociation is two-way for components and locations referenced in thecommunication. For example, a location listed in the communication iscross-referenced against components located at or around that location,and is associated with the listed location. In a second example, acomponent listed in the communication is cross-referenced againstlocations where that component is located in the complex system. In athird example, a component that is implicitly referenced, as asub-component of a listed component, is associated with the locationassociated with the listed parent component. When more than onecoordinate system is available in the complex system definition, each ofthe coordinate systems are associated with the clustered terms from theservice records 150.

Proceeding to block 250, the issue maps 160 are generated for thenatural language service records 150. Each issue map 160 is associatedwith one service record 150 and includes the terms found in that servicerecord 150, including terms implicitly referenced and explicitlyreferenced. In service records 150 that are determined to includenegated terms, such terms may be removed from the issue map 160, orincluded as negated terms for later reference. The terms are listed inthe issue map 160 in association with any locations on the complexsystem associated with the term. For example a term for a client (e.g.,“Acme, Inc.”) is stored in the issue map 160 without reference to alocation on the complex system, but a term for a component affect by theissue for which service is requested (e.g., “fuselage skin”) is storedin the issue map 160 with reference to a location on the complex system.Similarly, in some embodiments, a term for a location found in theservice record 150 is stored with reference to components at thatlocation. In embodiments that use multiple coordinate systems for thecomplex system, terms are stored in the issue map 160 with associationsto each of the coordinate systems available for describing the locationof that term as part of the complex system.

At block 260, the issue map 160 is associated with the given servicerecord 150 of the corpus 140. The issue maps 160 for all of the servicerecords 150 in the corpus 140 are searchable by operators with access tothe corpus 140 by any of the terms stored in the issue maps 160. Whenqueried, the issue maps 160 provide links to the associated servicerecord 150 (e.g., for user analysis of the natural language text) andcounts of the various terms found therein (e.g., for analysis offrequency of components, locations, and/or types of issues.)

Method 200 may then conclude or repeat as new communications that arepart of new or existing service records are received (updating the issuemaps 160).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing general operations in an example method300 for structured maintenance mapping. Method 300 begins with block310, where an image of a complex system is displayed in a userinterface. In various embodiments, one or more images of the complexsystem are presented in different views, such as images of a frontalview and a lateral view of the complex system, or as an isometric viewof the complex system. Each image of the complex system is associatedwith at least one coordinate system for the complex system so thatmetrics associated with various locations according to the coordinatesystem can be displayed in association with the image for visualanalysis.

Proceeding to block 320, a high-level selection of a criterion orcriteria related to the complex system is received. In some embodiments,the high-level selection includes a location selected from the displayedimage; a range of locations selected from the displayed image; alocation or range of locations selected via text input; a client, aservice record age range, a component, and issue type, or complex systemage range, selected from a user interface control (e.g., a drop downmenu); a client, a service record age range, a component, and issuetype, or complex system age range, selected via text input; and variouscriteria selected to match according to criteria found in the issue map160 of a chosen service record 150.

In various embodiments, depending on how the requested terms areselected, the analysis interface 180 interprets the user's input todetermine what the requested terms are. For example, a selection of aportion of an image of the complex system will cause the analysisinterface 180 to determine locations indicated on the image anddetermine the terms for components and/or locations on the complexsystem that correspond to the selection of the image. In anotherexample, the input of a text selection will cause the analysis interface180 to cluster the input term to a normalized form, which can then becompared against the terms in the issue maps 160.

At block 330 the analysis interface 180 proceeds to query a corpus 140of natural language service records 150 based on the selection(s)received from the user. The analysis interface 180 takes the criteria ofterms and/or locations indicated in the selection(s) and locates issuemaps 160 that contain the criteria indicated by the selection. The issuemaps 160 matching the selection criteria are returned to the analysisinterface 180 from the corpus 140 at block 340.

Proceeding to block 350, the analysis interface 180 compiles anddisplays metrics indicated in the returned issue maps 160 in associationwith the displayed images of the complex system. For example, a heat-mapof the location of issues in the issue maps 160 is overlaid inassociation with a frame image of the complex system. In otherembodiments, bubble charts, three-dimensional bar charts, and othervisualizations are used to indicate a number or frequency of issuesoccurring for a given term at a given location on the image. For termsthat are not associated with a location on the complex system (e.g., theclient having the issue with the complex system for which service isrequested) visualization independent of the image, such as bar charts,pie charts, bubble charts, scatter plots, line charts, etc. aredisplayed in a user interface separately from the image of the complexsystem. Additionally, one or more links to download or otherwise viewthe natural language text of the associated service records 150 aredisplayed in the user interface.

Whether a subsequent selection has been made is determined at block 360.A subsequent selection may include selection of new query criteria oradditional query criteria to refine or filter the results presented inresponse to the current or a prior query. In response to determiningthat a user has made a subsequent selection, method 300 returns to block330 to further query to the corpus 140. In response to determining thata user has not made a subsequent selection, method 300 may then concludeor wait to repeat until such time as new queries are made of the issuemap 160 of the corpus 140.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate example graphical user interfaces (GUI) forstructured maintenance mapping. Each of the GUI 401 and the GUI 402,illustrated in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B respectively, may be displayedindividually or in combination with one another depending on the screenspace available for the user interface. It will therefore be appreciatedthat the illustrated examples are given for explanatory purposes only.

In the GUI 401 illustrated in FIG. 4A, a first image 410 of the complexsystem is displayed above a line chart 420 of service record submissionfrequency, and a first bar chart 430 of ages of the entities for whichservice records 150 have been submitted (at the time of submittal or atthe time or at the time of analysis). In the GUI illustrated in FIG. 4B,a second image 440 of the complex system is displayed above a bar chart450 of the numbers of clients who have submitted service requests, a barchart 460 of the numbers of components implicated in service records150, and a bar chart 470 of the numbers of issue types resulting in theservice requests. It will be understood that the elements discussed aspart of GUI 401 and GUI 402 may be displayed in different arrangementsthan that shown in the illustrated examples.

Each of the first image 410 and the second image 440 of the complexsystem are overlaid with data (in the form of bubbles belonging tobubble charts where the size of a bubble indicates the number of servicerequests linked to a particular location) indicating the issuesdetermined to be at the displayed locations. The illustrated examplesprovide the first image 410 as a front-view of an aircraft, and thesecond image 440 as a side-view of the same aircraft. It will thereforebe appreciated that the data overlaid on the images are the same datapresented according to different coordinate systems associated with thevarious terms from returned issue maps 160. For example, the first image410 presents data around the circular cross-section of the aircraft viastringer coordinates and presents those data across the width of theaircraft at various body buttock line coordinates. Those same data areagain presented in the second image 440 against the width and height ofthe aircraft as waterline/stinger coordinates, and in relation to thelength of the aircraft as body station coordinates.

As user is enabled by the analysis interface 180 to interact with thevarious display elements to further refine prior queries to the corpus140, submit new queries to the corpus 140 (including queries fordifferent entities), request prior queries to be re-run or re-presented,and to change the criteria used to analyze the data. In someembodiments, the analysis interface 180 transmits results to an operatordevice to display the user interfaces as populated by the structuredmaintenance system 100, while in other embodiments the analysisinterface 180 transmits the data to the operator device to populate theuser interfaces on the operator device. In some embodiments the datatransmitted to the operator device are the issue maps 160, which providethe benefit of reducing the bandwidth necessary to analyze the corpus140 compared to transmitting the service records 150 to the operatordevice.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present disclosurehave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), an electronically erasableprogrammable memory (EEPROM) such as a flash memory, an optical fiber, aportable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, 3Radio Frequency (RF), etc., or anysuitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The present disclosure may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent disclosure.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a DVD, a memory stick, a floppydisk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raisedstructures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and anysuitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storagemedium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitorysignals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagatingelectromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through awaveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passingthrough a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted througha wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present disclosure may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like,and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may bedevised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scopethereof is determined by the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: clustering terms in naturallanguage service records of a corpus of natural language service recordsrelated to a complex system based on term definitions in aknowledgebase; associating, based on a definition for the complex systemthat includes a coordinate system that describes the complex system, theclustered terms with the coordinate system for the complex system;generating an issue map for a given natural language service record ofthe corpus, wherein the issue map identifies the clustered terms in thegiven natural language service record and associated locations for theclustered terms according to the coordinate system for the complexsystem; and associating the issue map to the given natural languageservice record of the corpus.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thegiven natural language service record is associated with one issue map,and in response to receiving a subsequent message for the given naturallanguage service record, the one issue map is updated.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving a query request from an operatordevice indicating criteria; querying the corpus based on the criteria;and transmitting issue maps that include the criteria as terms orlocations to the operator device.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theterms include components of the complex system.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein clustering the terms further comprises expanding the terms toinclude implicit terms, and including the implicit terms in the issuemap.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the implicit terms includeintermediate locations to a first location explicitly listed in thegiven natural language service record and a second location explicitlylisted in the given natural language service record.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the terms include locations listed according to thecoordinate system for the complex system.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the definition for the complex system includes multiplecoordinate systems for the complex system, and wherein associating theclustered terms with the coordinate system for the complex system basedon the definition for the complex system further comprises associatingthe clustered terms with the multiple coordinate systems.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein the terms include client identifiers, dateidentifiers, and issue type identifiers.
 10. A method, comprising:displaying in a user interface an image of a complex system; receiving,from the user interface, a high-level selection of criteria of thecomplex system; querying issue maps associated with individual naturallanguage service records of a corpus of natural language service recordsbased on the high-level selection, wherein the issue maps specify atleast one term related to the complex system and a location on thecomplex system associated with the at least one term; and returning atleast one issue map, wherein the at least one issue map returnedspecifies a term or location correlated to the criteria of the complexsystem indicated by the high-level selection.
 11. The method of claim10, wherein returning the at least one issue map further comprises:overlaying a chart onto the image of the complex system, wherein thechart displays data in the at least one issue map at locationscorrelated to the image of the complex system.
 12. The method of claim11, wherein the at least one issue map includes locations correlated thecomplex system in a first coordinate system and in a second coordinatesystem correlated with the first coordinate system.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising: displaying a second image of the complexsystem associated with the second coordinate system; overlaying a secondchart onto the second image of the complex system, wherein the secondchart displays the data in the at least one issue map at locationscorrelated to the second image of the complex system according to thesecond coordinate system; wherein the image of the complex system isassociated with the first coordinate system; and wherein the chart isoverlaid onto the image of the complex system according to the firstcoordinate system.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:receiving a filtering input specifying additional criteria; removing anyissue maps from the at least one issue map returned that do not includethe additional criteria; and updating the chart based on the filteringinput, in response to removing any issue maps from the at least oneissue map returned that do not include the additional criteria.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the filtering input specifies one of: aclient identifier for whom a service record was created; a time range inwhich the service record was created; and an issue type for which theservice record was created.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein thehigh-level selection specifies a range of locations.
 17. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the high-level selection specifies a componentidentifier.
 18. A system, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitorystorage device, including instructions that when executed by theprocessor enable the system to: receive a definition for a complexsystem, including a coordinate system for the complex system; clusterterms in natural language service records of a corpus of naturallanguage service records related to the complex system based on termdefinitions in a knowledgebase; associate the clustered terms with thecoordinate system for the complex system based on the definition for thecomplex system; associate an issue map to a given natural languageservice record of the corpus, wherein the issue map identifies theclustered terms in the given natural language service record andassociated locations for the clustered terms according to the coordinatesystem for the complex system; receive a new service request; parse thenew service request for requested terms; query the corpus based on therequested terms; and return at least one natural language service recordof the corpus having an issue map that specifies at least one locationof the complex system correlated to the at least one of the requestedterms.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions furtherenable the system to: display in a user interface an image of thecomplex system; receive a selection of a portion of the complex system;determine the requested terms based on the selection; and whereinquerying the corpus based on the requested terms is done in response todetermining the requested terms.
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein agraphical user interface is used to return the at least one naturallanguage service record of the corpus as a chart of terms havingidentified locations in the issue map that overlays an image of thecomplex system at corresponding locations.